


Hunters

by Wingstar102



Category: NCIS
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Borderlands 2 Fusion, Gen, I Don't Even Know, NFA Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-24
Updated: 2013-09-24
Packaged: 2017-12-27 13:03:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/979241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wingstar102/pseuds/Wingstar102
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes running from bad shit means running to more bad shit. But maybe Gibbs has found a team he could rely on. Time would tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hunters

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "AU Times Two" challenge on the NFA. Enjoy!

Pandora was an awful place to be, in Gibbs’ humble opinion. The planet had been stripped of all it’s resources by the Hyperion, Dahl and Atlas Corporations in the last hundred or so years, turning it into the parched and desolate husk that it was now. But the scuttlebutt was that the place had always been a shithole, humans had simply added all the trash and almost-total destruction of the natural landscape that people were known for. Normally, even he wouldn’t be so down on his usually abysmal luck to go to a planet like Pandora, but this time was an exception.  
  
And possibly a life-saving opportunity. Because when a person accuses their superiors of corruption and they put a bounty on said person’s head to silence them, running to the backend of space really becomes the only viable option, doesn‘t matter how insane it sounds.  
  
Not that he had that far to really run. His unit was only in the next star system over, guarding a contingent of  blatantly murderous Dahl Corporation surveyors. The bloodbath his platoon had been ordered, by the surveyors, to unleash on the indigenous population was heinous even to Gibbs, who’d seen his fair share of slaughter, and was the last straw for Gibbs when his commander confirmed the order be followed. He’d protested it as an unlawful and unreasonable order and commed one of his old commanders from a previous unit to make the slaughter public. Somehow his encrypted line was tapped and he had to make a run for it, stealing a small star craft used for supplies, and taking off for Pandora. No one would look for him on such a blighted wasteland, he hoped.  
  
When Gibbs landed on the rundown space dock, and overheard the invitation to ‘hunt’ for another alien Vault full of treasure, he figured what the hell. The first Vault and the hunters that found it were legendary. The original four hunters had popped it open to find nothing but an alien monster construct and not much else. The bulletin put out by the guy running Hyperion Corp said that this second Vault was supposed to have enough loot to satisfy the greed of even the most snobbish treasure seeker. It’s not like he had anything else to do on Pandora and he could put his combat skills to good use. Didn’t want to get rusty in case Dahl soldiers found him. So he got on the MagLev train with three others.  
  
What a strange bunch.  
  
The first was a very excited man named DiNozzo. Well, excited may have been an understatement. Exuberant seemed closer to the truth, or even zealous. DiNozzo paced the train car casually in cargo pants and a ragged shirt, recounting all of the skags and Crimson Lance soldiers and spiderants he’d killed with all the different guns he had; recalling special occasions with even weapon even, with a fondness that was honestly disturbing. People on Pandora called DiNozzo a Gunzerker and it was never more evident than from the anecdotes he was sharing. The guns that he was visibly loaded with added to that impression.  
  
Casually leaning against the car siding was the next. She, and Gibbs could only assume the being was a she by the female-sounding - though electronic - voice and the slight swell of breasts, was covered head to toe in thickly padded and form-fitting body suit of all black and gray. Not even her hands were uncovered and the completely enclosed helmet hid her face and hair. Gibbs didn’t know the woman’s name yet, but he’d heard rumors of an Assassin called Ziva that also used the pseudonym Zero. If Ziva’s appearance wasn’t a dead giveaway, the way she spoke was. The odd cadence and flow of her words wasn’t truly natural and no one else in all of the known worlds spoke quite like her. Not a woman to cross with her skills, but Gibbs also had no clue what she was doing on this pit, so he just assumed she was here for more or less the same reason he was.  
  
McGee was the last and an anomaly. Supposedly he was the only male born as a Siren in his generation and there was only six Sirens alive at any point in time. A male was unheard of too. Considering the man had on jeans, a tee shirt and a old, brown, leather jacket; you really couldn’t see the marks on his skin that showed his Siren status. The eyes were easy to spot though. So green they glowed with power.  
  
No secret why McGee was on Pandora. All Sirens came at some point in their life, compelled by something. Most thought it was the Eridian that the planet was known for. Violet and incandescent, the stuff was a serious store of raw energy and it was easily found now that the original alien Vault was open. McGee was probably on a hunt for information about it, because it seemed to be a mineral found in high concentrations in Siren blood with no explanation of how it got there. It was odd that, for a man as green as McGee looked, that he would choose such a dangerous undertaking. Hell, unless a person noticed the too-brilliant green eyes, nothing about the man gave away his Siren status. All of it, the bright swirls and lines etched into the skin, was covered with plain jeans, plain tee shirt and a plain brown bomber jacket! No self respecting treasure hunter; glory hound; even a blood-lusting murderer would be caught wearing something that Gibbs only thought fit to walk around town in.  
  
Then again, he was wearing his old, beat-to-shit camo and the neuro-implant stuck to the left side of his temple, telling anyone who looked at him of his Sergeant rank and his place as a grunt, so he really shouldn’t talk.   
  
And really, there was no standard uniform for Vault hunting.  
  
A shudder running through the train car pulled him out of his pursuing, the rest of the group stilling almost as one. The repeating thump wasn’t the jittering rock of the compartment and it wasn’t anyone else on the train. They were the only ones on it; at least, he hadn’t seen anyone else but the four of them. Glancing around didn’t reveal anything, but McGee’s silent look towards the back had him turning, had DiNozzo and Ziva looking past him.   
  
Checking the urge to roll his eyes, Gibbs watched as the tacky “Welcome Vault Hunters!” sign, with the Hyperion CEO’s - Handsome Jack as he was known - face on it fall away, showing another sign underneath. It was equally tacky with Handsome Jack’s face against a flaming background; the words “…To Your Doom!” emblazoned across it. DiNozzo scoffed and McGee did roll his eyes. No telling what Ziva thought, hidden behind her faceplate. Didn’t matter after a second because the pain-in-the-ass, robotic GUN Loaders came shambling out the doorway between compartments, intent on killing them all in a hail of bullets from attached sub machine guns.  
  
Make or break time he figured, and he really hoped that this impromptu “team” was up for it. With that in mind, he glanced at each person in turn and they got to work.  
  
Ziva immediately melted into the shadows, presumably to drop in on the mechs from above while DiNozzo started pulling pistols from the reconstruction and storage tech unit at his belt. Gibbs himself sprinted to the middle of the car and dropped, sliding across the rest of the compartment floor on his knees and calling up his personal gun turret with barely a thought to the imbedded neuro-implant attached to his temple and a wave of the hand from his own tech storage to direct the damn thing.   
  
The tight turn he made brought McGee back into his sight line and the scene was almost enough to frighten him.  
  
Hand raised and glowing an unnatural green, eyes glowing the same way, McGee simply closed his hand into a fist and captured one of the Loaders. It was a careless gesture that sent the machine out of the train car’s open side, past where DiNozzo started to immediately fire at the other one. Between them, the firefight lasted only another couple of seconds.  
  
Just when he thought nothing else was going to screw up his day, the car lurched again and it dawned on Gibbs that, maybe, there might be another issue. With that in mind, he quickly approached the door separating the passengers compartment and the driver’s, throwing a glance over his shoulder to see if the rest were ready.   
  
DiNozzo, McGee, and even the enigmatic Ziva, blood splashed across the front of her suit, had dropped back in, stood at his back, ready to face whatever was coming next.  
  
On a little backwater planet, at the ass end of space, with a group of strangers ready to watch his six, he felt oddly like he’d come home.  
  
Time would tell if he was right.  
  
~~~  
  
End.


End file.
